Back to School: In my perfect class …

The first sessions at the start of the academic year are the time to set the tone for the rest of the year. It’s at this point that you need to be as clear as possible about classroom procedures and expectations. A good way to get students involved in this is to use an activity called In my perfect class….

Aims

To negotiate and clarify procedures that you’d like students to follow for the rest of the year

Materials

Chalkboard and chalk

Author: Steve Taylore-Knowles

Procedure

Explain to students that you need their help in making this year’s lessons as good as possible and that you want them to describe their perfect class.

Write In my perfect class … on the board and put the following words and phrases in circles around it to show the categories that might help to generate ideas: teacher, students, decor, homework, activities, other ideas.

Write one or two examples of things that you personally would like to see in your perfect class, e.g. In my perfect class … students listen to each other without interrupting or In my perfect class … the teacher returns all homework on time.

Divide students into groups and ask them to brainstorm a few ideas in each category. After giving them some time to complete the activity, elicit ideas, encourage discussion and make a master list of the most popular suggestions.

Use this master list as the basis of a document you produce, with the heading “In our perfect class …”, and which you put up in the classroom to remind everyone of the principles you’ve all agreed to.

Optional: In some cases, you might even go so far as to print the document out in the form of a contract which you and all of the students sign to demonstrate commitment to the basic principles of your perfect class.For more information about Steve Taylore-Knowles, click here.